Low in alcohol for such an intense beer. Smells of prunes, dried fruits, and malts. Pours with average head and solid amount of lacing. Taste is a touch thin, but no alcohol burn whatsoever and barely any warmth. Taste is a touch heavy on the hop bitterness, but this doesn't turn into a major flaw so long as you let he beer warm enough. Well done beer.

Look: Dark amber towards brown in color; translucent. Pours with almost no head, just a thick layer of tan foam that dies down leaving an uneven layer foam on the surface of the beer and a few specs of lacing on the sides of the glass. Looks like a very good quality commercial beer.

Poured into tulip glass. It pours a dark cola color that shows ruby red when held to the light, with a thin, khaki-colored head and light lacing. It smells of coffee, cocoa, brown sugar, and toffee. The taste features roasted malt, burnt coffee grinds, bitter chocolate, some caramel sweetness, and an oaky, smoky, slightly bitter finish. This ale is medium-bodied, lightly carbonated, and very easy to drink at 8.7 ABV. Overall, this is a very good Old Ale. It is well-crafted with a lot of taste sensations but with the low carbonation and moderate ABV, it is easy to drink. It would pare really well with pub food. I would definitely drink this one again.

Pours a deep burgundy, with a medium-thin sized foamy head. Leaves a bit of lacing. Dark fruit and toffee notes form a pleasant aroma. The taste is a smooth, sweet taste of dried fruits, toffee, and malts. Not dessert sweet, just ever so slightly sweet. Mouth feel is good. It feels carbonated well, and easy to drink. Overall, a very pleasant beer for sipping on, with plenty of great features.

Canned on Sept. 25, 2015. Nice malty ale with that subtle hop finish that shuts off the sweetness nicely. In other words, balanced. Color is perfect, bring anticipation of sipping. While I do enjoy a more 'decadent' style English Old Ale too (i.e North Coast, Old Stock), this was a nice change from that. I drank it (at first) a little too cold...it really began to shine as it warmed.

Reviews are misleading; too hoppy, head ache inducing, almost porter like in taste. Way too boozy to taste anything other than alcohol. Smell is deceiving; you're expectation gourmet deliciousness only to be hit in the tonsils with McDonalds flavor.

Beautiful, slightly hazy, mahogany red beer with a nice light tan head. Minimal lacing left but head stays around the edges and continues to stream from the nucleation site of the glass. The smell is sweet malts with strong caramel/toffee notes. There is also a yeasty smell with a faint scent of hops. The taste is sweet and malty with a caramel and slight bitter chocolate appearing here. The swallow is finished with a pleasant hop bitterness that balances the sweetness very well.

12 oz bottle dated 09/17/14 poured into a Russian River “tion” glass. Back of the fridge find. Sipped on while jamming Magic Circle.

Appearance: A down the middle pour produces a thin cap of off white head which quickly dissipates to a bubbly ring. Body is a glowing mahogany with yeasty chunks floating around from accidentally pouring in part of the bottom. Looks like a great strong ale.

Taste: More that rich malt build with a mild bitterness in the middle. Brings to mind toasted oak, light smoke, vanilla, toasted brown sugar, bags of malt, and a nutty pecan bite. Small alcohol presence on the finish.

Mf: Low carbonation with a light/medium feel. I don’t know if it’s thinned out a little bit but a more full body would go great with the light carbonation. Warming.

Overall: One of those nice accidents. The malt build as well as the fading hop bitterness combine to produce a beer with great malt depth. As the label suggests, this would go great with salty foods or rich desserts. With a slightly more robust body this would tasted great out of a barrel. Reminds me of the first time I tried an aged beer, Old Ruffian, years ago due to a similarly complex brown sugary malt taste. Recommend (but you know that).

Bottled on Oct. 3rd, 2011, consumed and reviewed on Jan. 17, 2016. Yes, I've been hanging onto this for 4 years and change, it has spent every day since I picked it up quietly sitting in my cellar (ok, a chest freezer with a temp controller). I tend to Ron Popeil this beer: Set it and forget it. In the cellar that is. It's so much better with a year+ age on it, and that's a tip I got straight from the tap room several years ago.

L: Deep reddish-brown, some coagulated bits settle to the bottom. A thin head forms and hangs around, lacing clinging to the glass.
S: Toffee, malty, cocoa, raisiny and faintly boozy.
T: Maybe 4 years is a bit too long for this guy. Not oxidized, but astringent and bitter. Malt has faded from what it was a year ago, a little disappointing. Toffee and that's about it.
F: A little thin, not something I've experience before from this beer, I'd attribute it to the age.
O: I'm confident it's been stored well since I picked it up winter 2011/2012, but I think I hung onto it for too long. Only me to blame for that, but I learned something. 1-3yr old versions of this I'd rank 4.5+ in every department. Overall, I still finished it and I did enjoy it, just not as much as younger mature versions of it. I will have to pick a more recent batch from the cellar to review soon.

Pours a really nice reddish copper body and light tan head, which exits quickly leaving a narrow ring around the glass. Not getting anything strong on the nose, maybe a little something sweet.

Hits the tongue and gets kind of chewy, although it doesn't finish terribly thick. Tastes of malts and dark fruits, slight bitterness toward the end but nothing too staggering. Pretty easy to drink and a really excellent feel.

Overall I really like this style and this example of it. Haven't tried it in past years, but I'll look forward to it again next winter.

Don't understand the high ratings. Of the winter beers I find that his one rates towards the bottom of all that I have tried this year. Don't know how they can even call this an old ale because of the strong overbearing hoppiness. Similar in that aspect to Sierra Nevada Celebration ale. Flat nose with no distinction, initial burst of bitterness and no soothing follow through, maybe faint chocolaty finish but nondescript. I wouldn't purchase this again.

Dark cola color with half a finger of fine grained head
Roasted sweet malts, cocoa, coffee. Some leather
Woody, chocolate, coffee, rye, walnut. A weird almost chemically taste up front. Like hairspray. That's what this tastes like: cocoa hairspray.
A little slick and oily. Minimal carbonation
In every variety pack of beer there's the one "mystery" or "brewer's choice" beer that is just the bad beer they're trying to get rid of. I think this is it. Wish it tasted as good as it smells

On draft at Whole Foods – purchased a growler full to sample extensively.

Pours a deep amber/brown with off white head. Smells pleasantly of toasted malts, bread, some notes of leather/wet earth. Tastes far less sweet than I expected – pleasant well balanced sweet malts, caramel at front with smooth transition to hoppy notes, some nutty, piney notes and hints of dark, dried fruits (prune/fig) and rather clean finish. Medium bodied, well balanced with a clean finish.
Overall, rather good. A style I’m not accustomed – has qualities of porter, stout with strong hoppy notes. A pleasant and easily quaffable ale – though my preference in the winter months leans towards the thicker bodied and maltier stouts and porters.

From bottle dated October 2 2014. Massive cream colored head that does not want to die. Smells nice and sweet with malty aroma. Tastes nutty, Earthy, and nutty. Very different tasting. Slight hints of toffee but mainly nutty tasting. Overall quite unusual taste, nice smell, and incredible head and retention. 4.50

Poured from a can dated 10/15/15 into the modified tulip glass.
A - Deep mahogany in color, translucent and striking with direct light passing through. A loosely constructed froth cap rides the top, supported by a group of glass hugging tiny bubbles.
S - Lightly roasted malts, some dark brown sugar, soaked dark wood, barn cured tobacco leaf. A bit earthy in a good way. Hints of mint and Assam black tea.
T - Slightly sweet, none of that roast gets to the palate. There is some dried dark fruit flavors, fig, a bit of raisin. Caramel and toffee, and light molasses keep the flavor train moving.
M - Heavy medium in body, the coating is thorough and complete, the start is a bit sweet, next comes a quick dry out, with a rine wash cheese kind of finish. A bit thin but that does not take away from he experience.
O - In this world of hops and more hops ( not complaining) this offering is a nice treat, The execution is
solid, add some heft to the body and it will be a home run. The malt bill and slightly floral elements are delightful. I will be running out to get some more.